***

Slowly I felt consciousness return to me. The surface I laid on was strange. It was soft, not hard like my cell floor. For an instant, I could not remember where I was, and then I realized, that what happened last night had not been a dream! I was in that same strange house! I had been rescued! I opened my eyes to see a wooden ceiling, and a room, flooded with daylight from the window behind the bed. I blinked as my eyes stung from the light.

I was still wondering. Why Nightfall? Why me? I shook my head, and knew that I couldn't understand it. Maybe it had something to do with the letter that Thalia had written. If I had only an idea what she might have written him...

And then this other man. Got me out off there. Brought me somewhere. And I -

"You do not even know his NAME!" Yes, indeed. This time the voices were right. I knew nothing about him.

"He could be a Hammerite and do even worse to you!"

I looked around. The room was small. In front of the fireplace was a table with some papers on it. I moaned as quiet as possible, when I tried to move myself towards it. Everything hurt. I looked down at my hands, and saw the bloody scars on the back of the right hand. And the wounds that the shackles had left. I remembered that I had mistreated my hands in the last... hours? days? Far too long, at any case. The terrible feeling of helplessness and this terrible numbness stroke me, and I felt sick. But there was still the need to learn as much as possible about this strange rescuer. I tried to ignore the pain, and crawled to the table.

The papers were empty. I sighed.

But I found a pen, hidden under some paper sheets.

I took the pen and an empty paper, and started to write a letter to this ominous Nightfall. The writing was very difficult for me, because my hands were shaking from the strain to crawl to the table. But the handwriting was readable, at least.

"Dear Sir,

I don't know why you sent this man to get me out off Cragscleft. But I think I should thank very much you for it. But I am very curious about your motives for it.

Yours sincerely,

Lytha"

In the following silence, I heard him leaving the apartment. A key turned in a lock.

***

I was feeling pretty damn good, actually. I pulled off what most thieves only dreamt of, and only took moderate injury. After a full day's rest, I felt nearly good as new. Of course, a few healing potions helped as well. Yeah, I broke down and bought a couple. "What the hell?" I said. They may taste awful, and make you gag for air like you just swallowed a bottle of tree sap, but they do the job undeniably well. I'd have offered some to Lytha, but they ain't cheap, and I'm sure Nightfall has more then enough to give her. Hopefully she will survive the day without it. Basterd Hammerites and their basterd ways - I'd kill them all if I had the chance.

Okay, so I was once again off to The Circle of Stone and Shadow. Never trust a place that had the word "circle" in its title, my father used to say. He also used to say that the rats in the basement were plotting to take over the world. I got there about halfway till noon- figuring the guy had to be in the office at that time. I strolled through the yard into one of the doors, which was always open, and made my way through the light crowd to Nightfall's big office. A smile crossed my face as I saw his secretary sitting at her desk, book in hands. I paused for a second, momentarily stunned by her shining golden hair and beautiful face. It didn't seem to be the girl who was working here before, she was not this stunning!

"Ahem?"

She looked up.

I waved, "Hey there, is the boss in?"

She smiles and shook her head. "Off on important business. Out of town. Should be back in a few days." She went back to her book.

I wanted to scream. I wanted my money now, not tomorrow, not three days from now, NOW. That piece of crap skipped town. All I could say was a very exasperated, "WHAT?"

She looked up again. Green eyes- wow, green eyes. A friend of mine once spent two hours describing to me just how fabulous green eyes were. I can't say he was half wrong. "It was very unexpected, I'm very sorry. You are Ghost, are you not? You were doing a job for him, correct?"

Wow, it was the same girl after all. Odd how different she looked now. "Uh, yeah, jailbreak... He said he would pay me... " My mind shuddered for a moment. Did he say one thousand or ten thousand? It sounded like an awful lot at the time. I gave myself the benefit of the doubt. "Ten thousand gold for the rescue of one prisoner, this Lytha woman."

She looked thoughtful for a moment. "Do you have Lytha with you?"

"Um, no," Those green eyes were giving me goose-bumps. "She's at my home, resting. She's beat up."

"Hmm.. well, I'd pay you myself, but I can only handle sums of one thousand or less." Damn, if I had said one thousand, I would have gotten the cash and been done with it. I'm pretty sure he said one thousand anyway, ten is a huge amount for a job. I couldn't go back on a lie now, I may not get paid at all. Play it cool, Ghost."

"Aha.. well." Maybe I could pursued her to dish something! "Howabout you give me one thousand, ten times," I said with a grin.

She just laughed and looked at me like I was an idiot. No one looks at me like that, man or woman! But she had those damn green eyes. What was it with them? All I could do was try not to stare. She put her book down, crossed her arms on the desktop, leaned forward and just looked at me. That was the last straw. The green eyes I could handle, but she had a rather large collar, and when she leaned forward, wow. Okay, Ghost, you've seen better in a bar. However there was something about her that was different. She had dignity. Exotic dignity. Damn, okay Ghost, focus.

I totally forgot why I was even there. I forced my eyes away from her. The money, right, I gotta get the money. "Okay, miss, how about if you give me one thousand now, and when Nightfall gets back, he can give me the rest!"

She laughed, and shook her head. "It doesn't work like that. Why do you need this money now so badly?"

Why? Because it's money, what other reason do I need! I was about to say that, and I don't know what stopped me. If it had been anyone else, I would have said it. A lie, I needed something to make myself not look like a bum. "Um, my rent is due today!"

She smiled at me. Oh shit, I should not have looked at that smile. "You'll have to lie better then that." How did she know it was a lie!

"Oh, I've seen enough men lie in my day to be able to tell."

"I said that out loud?!" I shouted.

She smiled and nodded, giggling.

Damn. I would have to wait then. No sense trying to pursued with a creature that turns my mind to mush just by looking at me. My mind darted around for another answer. I did not want to waste the trip across town!

"Would you like a drink?," she said suddenly, getting up. I had seen her entire body before, last time I was here. I don't understand it. Why was she only moderately attractive before, and now all I could do was keep my jaw from hanging open. She was a little over five feet tall, well endowed, slender waste, gracefully curved hips and legs. . .

I saw her hand motioning my view upwards. "Hello?" she said with a smile. "Oh dear, I know what's wrong," she said suddenly. She unclasped the circlet from her neck, and transformed before my eyes. She now looked exactly how I remembered! She still looked great, but not mesmerizing!

"What? What did you do?"

"This," she said, motioning to the large ring of gold in her hand. "It's an artifact one of the thieves brought a while back. I had been cataloging artifacts and discovered it's unusual enchantment!"

"It's a beauty spell?" I said, hoping she would put it back on.

She laughed, "No, not really. It seems that it identifies a quality of the wearer that is most prominent, and then alters their appearance to magnify it."

"Ahhh, " I said, looking over it. "So you just got lucky, eh?" I smiled at her.

She smiled, "Yes, I suppose so. I'm sorry, I forgot I was wearing it!"

"Care to put it back on?" I said with a half smirk

She just smiled teasingly. "And let you drool, good heavens no!"

Damnit! Ah well.

"Say," she paused, and then handed it to me. "Try it on, I'll fetch a mirror."

I laughed. "Sure, why not. I'm not partial for jewelry though, and I'm afraid my neck may be too thick." I took it from her hand. And swung it open. I placed it around my neck, not expecting it to fit at all, but oddly enough it did quite well. It clasped by itself. Instinctual panic suddenly gripped me, and I quickly tried to unclasp it. I could easily enough, so I reclasped, satisfied that I could get it off. I waited anxiously while she rummaged through her desk.

"Found it," She looked up, and gasped.

"What?" I said, disturbed by her reaction. "What? Do I look like a warthog?! What?!?"

She laughed, "No, look!"

I took the mirror and looked at my face. My skin was pure white, and my eyes were a pale red. "Whoa!" I shouted, and then broke into a grin. "I look like a Ghost!" We both broke into laugher. "Perfect!" I admired my new features in the small mirror. I then looked up at her and grinned. "Wanna have some fun with this?"

She looked at me mischievously. "How?"

"Oh, I dono. How much trouble could a insanely beautiful young lady and a ghost get into, eh?"

She grinned. "Oh I do adore trouble."